Southern California

Southern California, abbreviated as SoCal, is a Smash region located in the United States. "SoCal" is generally defined to include the southern half of the state of California, centered on the Los Angeles and San Diego metropolitan areas. It deliberately excludes Northern California and the San Francisco Bay Area, as the state's large size has resulted in the development of largely separate Smash scenes in its two halves.

Since the inception of competitive Melee, Southern California has been home to one of the largest and most active Smash scenes. This can be attributed to the huge population of the Los Angeles area, as well as its prominent air hub and heavy usage of the automobile facilitating transportation to tournaments. SoCal has long been considered the strongest Melee in the world, home to both Ken, one of the strongest and most iconic players of the pre-Brawl era, and Mango, one of the Five Gods. The region is also known as one of the strongest Smash 4 regions, and was considered the second-strongest Brawl region in the United States (after the Tristate Area) during the game's competitive lifetime. Fueled by its large population, SoCal is home to some of the U.S.'s largest tournament activity, hosting both frequent locals and large nationals. It is one of the two strongest regions for Project M as well (the other being the Tristate Area), having numerous national threats.